


Stop Me

by Churbooseanon



Series: Starlight Challenges [17]
Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: F/M, Hallucinations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-20
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-07 23:12:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5474042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Churbooseanon/pseuds/Churbooseanon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are things you see in your own mind as you're going under anesthesia. This is what she sees, and longs for.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stop Me

**Author's Note:**

> Starlight Challenge for July 13th, 2015: I'm glad you stood in my way.

The name she gives as they put the mask over her face and tell her to breathe deeply is, of course, a fake one. None of them would have heard of Charlotte Rose Church, daughter of the Director, one Leonard Church. Nor would they know the former senior ranking soldier of the secretive Project Freelancer. Chances were they never even would have heard of the Project. Still, the chance that word of her survival might make it back to her father, to her CO, was unimaginable. Before everything she wouldn’t have hesitated to return herself to his grasp, but now… Now everything has changed, and with it goes an old name. 

None of the doctors know it is fake, of course. Nor that they care as she takes in deep lungfuls of the sedative laced oxygen. Sleep might bring some sort of relief from her pain, her loss, her betrayal. The world fell apart around her on a snowy cliff some days ago, her body failed around her as she struggled to find help, and her mind was still going, even now. Fraying at the edges, shattered pieces of glass dropping away from the fracture points at the back of her neck, each falling piece a new note to a discordant song three minds once sang as one. 

All of that is gone in the deep breaths, and yet it’s still there, she is still there. Where is there? Her eyes are open and yet narrow as the world around her moves, and then stops. Of course it stops. He makes it stop. The fading light of her conscious mind says he’s not there, and she’s not in the elevator at all. no, she’s on an operating table. 

Except she’s not, that much she’s certain of. She can feel the lack of weight in her gut, even as her boots hold her down to the metal pad. An elevator shaft. This is the place he chooses to betray her. This is the battleground he chooses to place the latest blade in her back? Dark places seem to be the popular choice for that these days. Connie had left them in the darkness of space, and died in a room faintly lit by emergency lights. Made sense, Innies were a shadowy force, the Covvies comes from the darkness of space and the shadowy fear of humanity’s unknowns. So could she be surprised when her betrayal comes, once more, from the dark? 

There are words. Part of her knows there are words because he’s York. With York there are always words. Tender whispers when she lays in his arms. Riotous laughter as he tells jokes and expects everyone to love them, even when they were worse than Wyoming’s. His voice filled the mess with tales of battles that they all had either heard a hundred times before or had been part of. York is noise and laughter, as if he feels he needs to shout to fill the void of space itself. The behavior would be sad if she didn’t know they all had their little quirks that came from whatever past justified their presence here. So she knows he has to be talking and she just can’t hear. 

Confusion holds her still, and when a hand settles into her own she gets it. An offer made. Freedom, escape. But at what price? The voices in her head sang fear, caution… longing. They want the offer. She does too. York has always loved her, supported her. This isn’t a betrayal at all. 

It’s a rescue. As her fingers close around his, his arms are around her, his warm lips pressed to her hair. York is always warm and welcoming. And like this she feels safe. Doesn’t matter that she knows she’s better in a fight, he has her back. 

“Thank you,” she whispers, the only words, and the only ones that matter. “For being there.”

“Like I’d ever let you go astray, Lina. I’ve always got your back.”

Empty words as she opens her eyes and considers the recovery ward around her. Got her back? He isn’t even here. York wasn’t good enough, or strong enough to stop her. And now… 

Now she only wishes she had listened. 

“Ms. Yorkson?” 

The doctor speaks and she looks to him. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Better,” she assures him, but the words are empty. Her mind is still breaking, as is her heart. But she’ll keep going. If nothing else, Carolina always keeps going. What else was she supposed to do? Go out there and try to find him? 

No. He’d only get in the way of the war she had to fight. 

If only he could get in the way of the war she had to fight.


End file.
